| Show MEMORY IN ANIMALS vienna if stein d der JV eisen the proof that experience Is ie the guide of life among ithe the lower animals may he be found very low ow in the scale of animal organisms the razor she shell or mollusk as soon boon as the tide retreats buries itself in the sand often to the depth of several feet the fishermen who hunt them use a long thin iron rod hooked at tb the 6 43 end n d or they sprinkle n k lo 10 a little salt in the hole to drive out its occupant this chia generally succeeds there is a movement in the sand ana and half the creature appears on the surface with a quick movement the fl fisherman aberman tries to seize him if this falls fails the mol lusk vanishes into its hole and all the blandishments blandish ments of the fishers art would fall fail to tempt him out a second time the mollusk has Pro fitted by experience similar conduct of aidi coals which can not be regarded as other than the result of experience may be noted among the most diverse species A fox that has once been 0 aught in a trap and fortunately regained his hia JEe edom anvil I 1 profit by the experience and beware of traps in future the same is ill true of many other animals and the birds also quail which have once been netted by tile allurement of the call if they regain their freedom will never be allured by it again every hunter is familiar with the fact that it is much easier to outwit a young animal than an experienced one borlase tells a very interesting story of how a lobster got the better of an oyster the lobster several times in sorted his claws in the half opened shell but the oyster always closed in time to save himself the lobster then seized iced a stone and inserted it quickly into the cautiously i bened bell tbell t and devoured the oyster monkeys secure oysters oysten by the same trick but there Is nothing so remarkable in that as their intelligence Is IB well known kirby tells of the bees that after repeated raids of deaths head upon their store they build a sort of bulwark of wax about the hole of entrance to keep them out dages observed a spider which bad seized a bee from behind and thus hindered it from flying the stronger bee however had its legs free and walked off with the spider which tried to draghe drag her into his den the struggle lasted some time when the spider lowered itself with its presby a thread the bee bees a legs were useless in mid air and the spider clung to her until he had accomplished his full purpose it la Is impossible to argue that these are exceptions which afford no proof of a general intellectual capacity of animals every such experience is individual and from circumstances of its origin cannot extend to the species we must concede too that even among animals there are individuals le much more highly gifted than ban the general run of the species In numer able instances are seen among horses dogs elephants elep hauts and monkeys to deny the fact would be to deny the capacity of animals for further development the possibilities of such advance are of course limited but so go also is the possibility of human advance although the boundary line is 18 not yet in sight eight the higher animals are much more ready to meet exceptional exigencies than the lower both because their capacities are greater and because they have been more ore highly developed by a wide range of experiences |
